Picking Up the Pieces
by awolnation319
Summary: Sequel to Never the Same. Frank and Joe begin to recover after Fenton saves them from years of child abuse. However, Louis is out for revenge and lurking around every corner. Warning: Language. ON TEMPORARY HIATUS UNTIL SUMMER
1. Chapter 1: Nightmare

**Hello everyone! This is the sequel to my story Never the Same. If you haven't read it yet then I suggest you should or else you won't know what's going on in this story. Today is my birthday! So here's my birthday gift to you **

**Warning: Some mild language**

**I don't own it. **

Fanfiction: Picking Up the Pieces

Chapter 1: Nightmare

(Frank is 11. Joe is 10)

_The sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky. Blades of grass danced in the light breeze. Puffy white clouds drifted lazily across the sky. The family of four sat under a large oak tree, enjoying the lovely day. They were sitting on a blue and white checkered picnic blanket. Plates of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, carrots and dip, watermelon and chocolate chip cookies were scattered about the blanket. Elvis music was playing in the background._

_The woman had a petite figure, flowing blonde hair, and kind, spirited blue eyes. Her face was filled with joy as the man sitting next to her tucked a flower behind her ear. The man had a wise look in his brown eyes, and chestnut colored hair. He smiled a loving smile and kissed his wife on the cheek._

_The two boys were enjoying large pieces of watermelon and giggling as the juices dripped down their arms. The boys were splitting images of their parents._

_An orange butterfly landed on the younger boy's hand. It lazily flapped its wings and headed towards the woods a few yards away. The family smiled and laughed as the blonde boy with the blue eyes started after the small winged creature. He happily skipped after it, giggling as the butterfly's fuzzy feet tickled his hands._

_The older boy got up and followed too, staying a small distance behind his brother. The butterfly entered the woods with both boys not very far behind it._

_As soon as the young boys entered the woods, the trees and bushes closed around them, encasing the youngsters in the forest. The orange butterfly dropped to the ground, dead. The scene grew darker, the green, leafy trees became black and lifeless. It grew colder, there was no sun, all around the blonde was a gray, dead forest. He turned, his brother was no longer next to him. In his place stood a man._

_The man looked cruel, vile, and downright terrifying. He smiled, displaying crooked, black, rotting teeth. His eyes were an eerie hazel and full of hatred and loathing. He wore a dirty white T-shirt that barley fit over is bulging belly, and a pair of dirty jeans. His head was mostly bald._

_"Ready to have some fun, boy?" The man said in a gnarled voice. He slowly undid his belt. "I'm gonna beat ya to a pulp."_

_Said boy was rooted to the spot, frozen in fear. He was drenched in a cold sweat and was shaking uncontrollably. His blue eyes were laced with terror._

_"Dis is all yer fault. You killed her, if you weren't such a damn failure-" The lunatic folded his belt in half and snapped it. Laughing as the boy flinched._

_Suddenly, the boy took off, tears were streaming down his face as he ran. He could hear the man calling out to him, and chasing him through the somber woods. The pounding footsteps got louder as the man got closer. Without warning, the boy tripped over a tree root and fell to the cold hard ground. Before he could get up, he was roughly flipped over onto his back. The mad man grinned at him, "Little shit," he muttered as he swung the belt down, the buckle biting into the quivering boy's cheek._

Daniel woke up with a scream. He tried to get out of the bed, but strong arms held him down. "No! No dad, stop!" He yelled as he thrashed around the small bed.

"Kid, kid it's ok. Stop moving." Soft words comforted him and he stopped thrashing.

"Where- where am I? Where's Michael!" He was in an all panic mode; shaking, sweating, and eyes that were the size of apples.

"You're at Boone Memorial Hospital. And Michael? Is that the boy with the brown hair?" A pleasant looking man with glasses and thinning gray hair asked him.

Daniel nodded. "He's my brother." Still unsure of his situation.

"What's your name, sonny?"

"Um Daniel."

The man wrote something down on a clipboard. "Well Daniel, as I said before, you're at Boone Memorial Hospital. My name is Dr. Stephen Gray, you've been here for approximately nine hours. You and your brother have some serious injuries. He's right across the hall." He pointed towards the door.

"H-hospital? Nine hours? I-injuries?" The boy finally realized he was laying in a hospital bed in severe pain. He groaned.

"Hurts?" "I would assume that it would, considering all that moving around you were just doing." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit. "I'll have the nurse prepare a sedative. Now is there anything you want to ask me before I go?"

"When can I see my brother?" Daniel had only one thing on his mind.

"When he wakes up, I'll let you see him. Alright?" The doctor smiled and left the room. A few minutes later, a young nurse came in, introducing herself as Camille and slipped a bag into his IV. Camille was still talking when Daniel escaped into a nightmarish sleep.

White. White walls, white curtains, a white door, a white table next to the white bed with white sheets. _Maybe white was a symbol of cleanliness._ Michael thought to himself groggily. A sense of panic dawned on him. _Where was he_? He thought to himself. And more importantly, _Where was Daniel?_

"Glad to see you are awake. Michael, is it?" Dr. Gray stood in the doorway. The boy in the hospital issued pajamas nodded. "Do you have a last name, son?"

"Callaway." Michael replied.

"Thank you. I'm doctor Stephen Gray." The doctor preceded to give Michael the standard information he had given Daniel. "Do you have any questions for me?"

"When can I see Daniel?"

Dr. Gray chuckled. "You and your brother think alike. That's exactly what he said too. You'll both get to see each other soon enough. He's across the hall. Are you in a lot of pain, Michael?"

Michael nodded, his face had turned a shade paler once the adrenaline wore off and the pain set in. The events of last night came flooding through his mind and he laid his head back onto the pillow with a groan. "Is Danny going to be okay?"

"I sure hope so, Michael. Only time can tell." Dr. Gray gave him a sympathetic smile before stepping back to allow the nurse through.

Nurse Camille had been waiting by the door and came forward once she had the go ahead from the head doctor. She gave the boy the same sedative she had given Daniel an hour ago. Michael didn't fight the inviting sleep, an escape from the pain. An escape from thoughts, feelings, and memories. An escape from reality.

Dr. Gray and Nurse Camille exited the room together. They were both thinking the same thing, it was only Camille who voiced it "If I ever get my hands on that bastard who hurt those boys, I'll tear his throat out. How anyone can cause harm to children as sweet as them is beyond me."

"I know Camille. It breaks my heart." Dr. Gray didn't want the boys to see each other because they both looked absolutely ghastly. If someone were to look at them they might think that the boys had survived a terrible car accident or had been mauled by a bear. Not attacked by the human being they called father. Dr. Gray sighed. The worst kind of monsters are the ones standing right next to you. Plain old human beings.

**What did you guys think? Please tell me in your review! Should I continue this or nah?**


	2. Chapter 2: Monster

**Hello, I'm back! I have decided to continue this story, thanks to some very kind reviews from LaurenHardy13, bookwriter-lover1212, and guest. So thank you so much! Ok enough of my babbling. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Hardy Boys, all rights belong to Franklin W. Dixon and the publishing company and other people that are not me. **

Chapter 2: Monster

(Michael is 11. Joe is 10)

Louis was roughly dragged into the drafty cell, and shackled to the bed. "Welcome home." One of the guards said dryly, before both guards left, slamming the barred door behind them. Louis groaned, and sat down on the uncomfortable bed. The cot had a single sheet and one pillow; both stained an old, musty yellow with brown and green blotches that Louis didn't care to look at.

He put his head in his hands and gently massaged his swollen face. It wasn't his fault the other inmates pissed him off, and it definitely wasn't his fault they had ganged up on him. All he did was fight back. They had told him that he was a piece of shit and deserved to die for abusing 'poor defenseless children.' Louis rolled his eyes. _If they only knew how intolerable his kids were… _Louis thought to himself, he bet that those men would have done the same thing.

He lay down on his back and stared up at the ceiling. There was a fly lazily drifting near the flickering fluorescent light. The bare cement walls were decorated with water stains and cracks, and there was a leak somewhere. Louis could hear the steady _drip drip drip_ of water hitting the solid concrete floor. "Why ain't there any beer in prison?" He muttered abstractly.

"I agree with you, man." A voice drifted over to Louis. "Would make this place a hell of a lot more bearable."

Louis turned his head toward the voice but could only see the outline of a man in the shadows. "Why am I even here? It ain't like I did anything wrong." He said.

"It's the government's way of punishing us. They'll take away any civil liberties they can to make you wanna change who you really are. Or make you feel ashamed of what you done." The voice was gruff but wise voice and came from the next cell over.

"Tell me 'bout it. They tell ya this is a free country then put restrictions on everythin'." Louis responded.

"Once you do something that is seen as 'wrong' you're automatically a criminal. I wanna know, who decides what's wrong and what's right."

"I guess the government. I'd like to give them a taste of this hellhole is like."

"It's a long process. First, your civil liberties and natural human rights are stripped away from you. They take away your freedom of movement, and your sense of individualism." He looked down at his orange jumpsuit. "Then they try to break you. Make you a good little boy again. Well that's not gonna happen with me." The man slammed his hand into the cement wall.

There was a long silence; the only sound was the steady _drip, drip, drip_. "What ya in here for?" Louis asked.

"Rape, embezzlement, armed robbery, selling drugs, kidnapping, murder. The list goes on. See, I'm a gang leader over in New York."

"Did you say murder?"

"Yeah. I can torture too. For a price. What you in for?" The New York accent came through.

"Kidnapping, Child abuse and neglect."

The man scoffed. "You went to jail for teaching your kids a lesson?"

"Wasn't anything the little pricks didn't deserve. When I get outta here I'll find them. They'll pay for what they did to me. It's them who should be in here. They killed my wife, their mother. Well, not really their mother. The woman who raised 'em." Louis sighed.

There was another long awkward pause. Until the man in the other cell made his way to the adjoining barred wall. Louis finally got a better look at him, and was almost scared.

The New Yorker was tall, and incredibly muscular. His legs looked like tree trunks and the orange jumpsuit was tight around his arms and abdomen, exposing his toned lean stomach. There was a tattoo of a snake on both forearms. He had a black mustache and cold hard eyes. His head was completely bald. "The name's Snake."

"L-Louis." The fat man felt quite small.

"I'll call you Freakshow. We gotta get you in shape before we get outta here. Once we do we're gonna find your kids, together. You, me and my gang. Tomorrow we start training."

Louis nodded. The buzzer sounded, signaling lights out and Snake drifted back towards his cot. Louis fell asleep quickly. He dreamt about the next time he and Snake crossed paths with Michael and Daniel. All of the pain they would inflict on the boys, the torture, the blood, the boys begging for mercy, and finally, the kill. He'd get his revenge, even if it killed him. Louis smiled in his sleep. _Drip, drip, drip, drip. _

**I hope you liked it! Since I only got three reviews for the last chapter let's say 5 reviews and you'll get an update. Ok? See you next time! Don't forget to tell me what you think in a review please. **


	3. Chapter 3: Uncertainty

**Hello again! Thanks for sticking with this story and I know it's frustrating when I don't update which I apologize greatly for. When I said 5 reviews and you'd get an update, I didn't think that would happen that fast. But I'm happy for them! So I'm sorry to say this but after this chapter I have to put this story on a temporary hiatus until school lets out. I'm swamped with homework, essays, and auditions, and I'm really struggling in calculus. I'll pick it back up again in June. Sorry again. **

**Bookwriter-lover: Thank you! And neither did I until I wrote it down. **

**LaurenHardy: Hope this has the brotherly moment you were looking for. But I must warn you I'm not very good with touching moments. **

**Cait: Hmmmmmm. I don't think so. Lol **

**Lizzie: Here you go**

**JackFrost: Thanks and I will try**

**LLTIF: Thanks I'll try **

Chapter 3: Uncertainty

(Frank is 11, Joe is 10)

The bright sunlight filtered in through the blinds, bathing the sleeping boy in the hospital bed. Michael opened his eyes, slowly taking in his surroundings. He had had a nightmare that a psycho had forced him hurt Daniel and now his brother wasn't speaking to him. _Oh wait,_ Michael groaned, _that wasn't a dream._

The day before, Dr. Gray had moved Daniel's bed into Michael's room. Michael had tried to talk to his brother several times, only to be met with silence and a cold stare. Michael didn't know what to do; he wanted to apologize but didn't know how. He was just thinking of something to say when Daniel started thrashing around in the bed. He let out an ear piercing scream.

Michael jumped up. "Daniel!" He yelled. Michael made his way over to the other bed as fast as his broken body would carry him, ripping out all the machines in the process. Michael started shaking Daniel, gently at first then harder, he was panicking. Daniel just screamed louder. "Daniel! Daniel, wake up!" Silent tears were dripping down the boy's face.

Daniel calmed down suddenly and opened his eyes. His body was covered in a layer of cold sweat and his eyes were filled with fear. "Please don't hurt me anymore." He looked directly at the other boy as he whimpered these incriminating words that made Michael feel like a failure.

"Oh, little brother. I'm so sorry." Michael's vision blurred with tears as he brushed damp hair off his brother's forehead.

"Don't touch me!" Daniel flinched and tried to move as far away from Michael as possible.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in rushed Doctor Gray and Nurse Camille. "You are not supposed to be out of bed!" Nurse Camille shrieked at Michael. When he and Daniel flinched. Camille immediately softened her tone. "Michael please get back into bed." She calmly reinserted the IV into Michael's wrist.

Meanwhile Doctor Gray was checking Daniel over. "Did you have a nightmare, Daniel?" He asked gently while checking the boy's vitals and writing on a clipboard.

"Y-yes, sir." Daniel whispered, barely audible.

"Would you like to tell me about it?" Doctor Gray gently prodded.

"Um, no sir" Daniel replied and averted his eyes. How was he supposed to tell the man that his dream was about his brother plunging a knife into his heart?

The man frowned. "Suit yourself. Maybe you'll open up to Michael?" Dr. Gray knew Daniel was blocking out his older brother. He just didn't know why. "Would you like something to help you sleep?"

"No, sir." Daniel was determined to get through this with as little drugs as he could.

"Alright. But son? You don't have to call me sir." The young doctor said lightheartedly.

"Yes sir." Daniel smiled at the man. "I mean, Doctor Gray."

After getting both boys comfortable, Dr. Gray and Nurse Camille left, leaving the two boys alone in the quaint room.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Michael asked a few minutes after the door closed. The silence was unbearable.

Daniel didn't say a word. Just continued to stare at the ceiling.

"Come on. You can't keep this up forever."

"Sure I can." Daniel said defiantly, and then mentally kicked himself.

Michael signed. At least he was getting somewhere. "Listen, I'm really sorry about all this, and-"

"You promised." Daniel broke in. His voice sounded distant.

"What?"

"You promised you would never hurt me."

Michael felt like he had been kicked in the stomach. "I'm so sorry Danny. I'm so sorry. Please understand that I had no choice. Dad made me. He had a knife to your throat. Don't you remember?" Michael was on the verge of tears.

"H-he did? I didn't know that." It was true. All Daniel remembered was Michael beating the crap out of him and trying to kill him. "Dad was there?"

"Dad's the one that did this to us! Why on earth would I hurt you intentionally? If I did this to you, don't you think I'd be the one behind bars? Let alone sharing a room with you?" Michael was ecstatic.

"Oh, yeah. I guess so." He had never thought about that. "But you did hurt me." His blue eyes clouded.

"Yes, I know I did. And I feel terrible about it. I would have never done it if it wasn't for dad threatening your life."

There was a moment of silence. "I'm sorry, Michael."

"Sorry for what?" Michael was surprised, what did Daniel have to apologize for?

"For everything. Ignoring you, blaming you..."

"It's ok little brother. I think Dr. Gray said you had a concussion. It probably messed with your memory."

There was a minute of silence. "Michael?" Daniel said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"Love you too, Danny."

Both boys fell asleep with a feeling of hope. Things were finally going to change.

Two weeks later, two boys stepped into a cozy, well-furnished house in Bayport New York. "Welcome to your new home, boys." Fenton said happily as he set their luggage by the stairs. Laura and Gertrude came out of the kitchen with freshly baked cookies and overjoyed smiles on their faces.

Michael and Daniel didn't know what to do. They stood awkwardly by the front door until Fenton offered them a seat on the couch. When they took their seats, Fenton and Laura pulled chairs up to face the couch. The boys felt very uncomfortable, they snuggled closer to each other.

"Boys, this is my wife, Laura. And my sister, Gertrude." Fenton began, feeling the tension in the air.

"Hi." Daniel mumbled.

"Good to meet you." Michael nodded at the two women who smiled kindly.

"We're so happy to welcome you into our home." Laura graciously threw her arms around the children, but withdrew quickly when they both flinched. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." She was crushed; Fenton put an arm around her to comfort her.

"Would you kids like a cookie?" Gertrude offered them the platter and smiled as each boy took one of her famous chocolate chip cookies.

"Would you like to tell us about yourselves?" Fenton asked kindly.

The boys exchanged a glance. "Well I'm Michael, I'm eleven. This is my brother, Daniel. He's ten."

"Ok. I'm sure you're tired from the trip; let me show you your rooms." Fenton saw the boys were not going to talk at the moment.

Fenton led them upstairs and down the long hallway. "This'll be your room Michael." He set the small suitcase next to the door and walked to the next door. "Daniel this is yours. There's an adjoining bathroom inside."

"We can't share a room?" Michael asked.

"There's only one bed in each room and I doubt you'll both fit in one." Fenton said. "But we can make it work for tonight." He quickly countered when seeing their faces fall.

The boys nodded, relief washing over their faces.

"Well I'll leave you alone now so you can get acquainted with the surroundings. Make yourselves at home and yell if you need anything. Dinner will be at six. How does spaghetti and meatballs sound?"

Both boys smiled and nodded vigorously.

"Ok. I'll leave you to it then." Fenton smiled reassuringly. He turned his back and started walking down the hallway.

"Thank you." Came the quiet unison voices.

"You're welcome." He replied as he descended the stairs.

The boys went into their new bedroom and closed the door. The room was spacious with a small single sized bed with the headboard pushed up against the wall. The walls themselves were painted a shade of green and had various pictures. There were two matching oak dressers one either side of the bed. The entire room was flooded in sunlight that came in through two windows on the far wall.

Michael and Daniel sat down at the foot of the bed. "So what do you think?" Michael asked, referring to the Hardy's.

"I don't know. They _seem_ nice. But people are not always what they seem." Daniel said sullenly.

"I guess we'll find out more at dinner." Michael replied as he lay down on his back. "But it sure is nice is finally sleep in a bed."

"I think I'll go check out the other room." Daniel muttered and crossed through the bathroom into the other room. It was mostly the same, except the walls were blue and on the dresser was a picture frame. As Daniel neared it, he saw that it was a family portrait of the Hardy's, but they were younger and had two small children in their arms. The date on the back of the picture was June 11, there was no year. The scene was bright and happy the Hardy's were by a lake and were caught mid laughter. It was a jubilant photo that made Daniel smile. He went back to the other room to show Michael the picture, but the older boy was already asleep. Mr. Hardy was right when he said the beds were small.

_Who are these boys? Where are they now?_ Daniel wondered aimlessly as he went back into the other room for a nap of his own.


End file.
